Man set ex-girlfriend's Eden Prairie home on fire with kids inside: Charges

Smoke plume from Eden Prairie twin home fire

A smoke plume was seen from an Eden Prairie twin home fire on Friday afternoon. Officials say an infant was hospitalized but did not share further details. The video clip is looped.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - A man is facing arson charges following a fire at a home in Eden Prairie that had several children inside at the time it started.

Abdullahi Abdi Abdullahi Jr., 23, of Eden Prairie faces charges of first-degree arson after police say he set his ex-girlfriend's home on fire while several kids were still inside.

According to charges, on May 31, Eden Prairie police officers and firefighters responded to a fire around 11:30 a.m. at a home located on the 8500 block of Cardiff Lane in Eden Prairie. When they arrived, first responders found parts of the house and garage engulfed in flames.

At the time, one adult man was outside the home carrying a child, while two adult women were outside as well, crying and screaming that there was a baby still inside the house. Police learned that three adults lived at the house with four children, ages 6, 3, 1 and 9 months.

When speaking with police, the man said that he was sleeping in an upstairs room of the house when he awoke to the sound of fire alarms and heavy smoke. He then took the three older children and ran out of the house.

Charges say the Eden Prairie man set his ex-girlfriend's home on fire while several kids were still inside. (FOX 9)

He thought the woman had taken the baby, and didn’t realize the child was still inside the house until firefighters entered and retrieved it.

Officers spoke with one of the women, who said she believed her ex-boyfriend might have started the fire.

The former boyfriend, identified as Abdullahi, came to the house and threatened to kill her two days earlier, according to the woman.

During their investigation, police obtained several surveillance videos from nearby businesses that showed in the minutes before the fire, a man dressed in black, parked in a Jeep nearby, grabbed a white trash bag and red gas can, then ran off toward the direction of the house.

Around six minutes later, he is then seen running back to the Jeep with the same gas can, before taking off at a high rate of speed, according to police.

Detectives determined the license plate came from a car rented from an Enterprise location in Eden Prairie on May 28.

Abdullahi is currently on probation for a felony harassment restraining order violation.